By Tunde Ojudun<\/p>\n
The Save Nigeria Freight Forwarders, Importers and Exporters Coalition (SNFFIEC) has called on the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC), Barr. Pius Akutah, to suspend the annual International Maritime Seminar for Judges and instead concentrate on resolving pressing issues affecting the shipping industry.<\/p>\n
At a press briefing on Monday, SNFFIEC National Coordinator, Chief Osita Chukwu (PhD, KSJI), criticized the NSC for allocating substantial funds\u2014reportedly hundreds of millions of naira\u2014to judicial seminars while neglecting its core mandate as the nation\u2019s port economic regulator.<\/p>\n
Chief Chukwu expressed frustration over the council\u2019s perceived inaccessibility and ineffectiveness, stating that shippers have yet to feel the impact of the NSC\u2019s regulatory role. \u201cEach time you visit the NSC, the Executive Secretary is not in the office. He\u2019s always away, spending shippers\u2019 money on training judges,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He argued that organizing judicial seminars falls under the purview of the National Judicial Institute (NJI), not the NSC. Chukwu warned that if the council proceeds with plans for the 2026 seminar, his group would seek legal redress at the industrial court. He also urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to intervene and halt the program, describing it as a misuse of funds and a form of corruption.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, SNFFIEC is preparing to petition the President, the National Assembly, the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, and the Attorney General of the Federation, demanding a probe into the NSC\u2019s finances and activities, which the group claims are detrimental to the growth of Nigeria\u2019s shipping sector.<\/p>\n
Despite the criticism, the NSC is moving forward with preparations for the 2026 seminar. Recently, its management visited the NJI in Abuja to strengthen their long-standing collaboration. According to Barr. Akutah, the seminar is crucial for equipping judges with the knowledge to handle the evolving complexities of maritime and blue economy law.<\/p>\n
NJI Administrator, Hon. Justice Babatunde Adejumo (OFR), lauded the partnership and proposed extending the training to court registrars, emphasizing their role in enhancing judicial efficiency. If implemented, this expansion could further increase the seminar\u2019s budget.<\/p>\n
The International Maritime Seminar for Judges, jointly organized by the NSC and NJI, aims to update superior court judges on maritime and admiralty law, promote effective dispute resolution, and support a stable legal framework for Nigeria\u2019s maritime sector.<\/p>\n
When contacted, the Head of Public Relations Unit of NSC, Mrs Rebecca Adamu, said the organization’s Legal department would respond to the questions sent to her on Tuesday. However, no response yet as at the time of filing this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Tunde Ojudun The Save Nigeria Freight Forwarders, Importers and Exporters Coalition (SNFFIEC) has called on the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC), Barr. Pius Akutah, to suspend the annual International Maritime Seminar for Judges and instead concentrate on resolving pressing issues affecting the shipping industry. At a press briefing on Monday, SNFFIEC […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8487,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-maritime-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/peoplesforumonline.com.ng\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9189","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/peoplesforumonline.com.ng\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/peoplesforumonline.com.ng\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peoplesforumonline.com.ng\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peoplesforumonline.com.ng\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9189"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/peoplesforumonline.com.ng\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9189\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9190,"href":"https:\/\/peoplesforumonline.com.ng\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9189\/revisions\/9190"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peoplesforumonline.com.ng\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/peoplesforumonline.com.ng\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peoplesforumonline.com.ng\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peoplesforumonline.com.ng\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}